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Name: Scott Williams
Age: 31
Company Name: Intergraph Corporation
Years With Company: 10
Previous Jobs: No professional jobs. I joined Intergraph right after college.
Education: BS, Computer Science, University of Alabama
1. What is your official job title?
Staff Consultant
2. What is the job title you'd give yourself?
Software Consultant
3. What makes your job unique?
I don't consider my job particularly unique. Our company sells electronics design software to help engineers design circuit boards. My particular group provides specialized consulting, training, and custom software to augment the shrink-wrapped products. My job is unique within my group because I am responsible for the custom software development, while the others focus on consulting and training.
4. How did your college major / graduate school degree help prepare you for your career path?
The computer science courses gave the basics to do software development. English courses helped strengthen my writing skills, which play a bigger part in my job than I had imagined would be the case when I was in school.
5. What necessary career information was missing from your studies? How did you pick up those skills and knowledge?
I did not study electrical engineering in college, which would have been helpful since I wound up working in the electronics design industry. In college I just studied software design in general, with no thought of a specific application. I have learned about design just by discussing requirements with customers. I also read trade journals and articles, but have not attended any formal classes since college.
6. What difficulties did you encounter entering your chosen field?
It was not difficult to enter this field as a junior programmer. The difficulty is in rising above that status to a position of more responsibility (and higher pay). To do that, I had to show interest in areas outside the scope of my directly assigned tasks and demonstrate the ability to lead teams of programmers.
7. Why would you recommend your company or job?
I would recommend my job to people interested in programming because we use fairly leading-edge techniques and the pay is good. This industry has good benefits and makes most of its investment in good people, as opposed to capital expenses like equipment and materials.
8. How does the size of your company impact your sense of job satisfaction?
Intergraph is a fairly large company, employing about 8,000 people. This is good in that they provide services that smaller companies do not, such as a company cafeteria and exercise facility. The problem with a larger company is that there are some inefficient processes and uninspired workers. When the company is not doing well financially, it seems impossible for an individual to make much impact on the bottom line.
9. What three things are most rewarding about the work you do?
- Direct customer involvement allows the satisfaction of seeing the successful application of my software in their environment.
- I am surrounded by extremely bright people, from whom I can learn and whose company I enjoy.
- The pay and benefits provide a good living for my family.
10. What three things are most frustrating?
- Despite sound products, sometimes our sales lag. It seems there are business issues outside the control of the technical staff that prevent us from being successful.
- I am often asked to estimate how long it would take to do a certain task without having a reasonably thorough explanation of the problem. These estimates then tend to be treated as binding, despite being pulled out of thin air.
- Management has often changed directions and thrown away a lot of work without ever bringing it to market. This seems to indicate a lack of long term planning. As I mentioned earlier, most of our expense is in our manpower, so throwing away people's time is a big waste.
11. What three things are most fun?
- Lively discussions on non-work related topics with my co-workers. We are a bright and varied group with many different viewpoints.
- Learning new programming techniques and successfully applying them to a problem.
- Being thanked for a job well done by a customer (okay, this is rare, but it does happen sometimes).
12. How do you handle work stress?
I exercise a lot to reduce the physical effects of stress and of sitting in a chair most of the day. Also, I have a twenty minute drive home, during which I listen to music and try to rid my thoughts of work until the next morning.
13. How big a role does technology play in your career?
My job is totally technology oriented. Computer hardware and software advancements require changes in our techniques and our product offerings.
14. How do you distinguish yourself from your co-workers?
I try to be involved in the "big picture" rather than focusing solely on the direct task at hand. I try to apply a well-rounded set of technical, communication, and personal skills rather than compete with co-workers on a strictly technical level, where many surpass me.
15. Which popular song best describes your working life?
"Weird Science" by Oingo Boingo
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